Some people might wonder why we are coming here, what are we doing here? People are coming from long distances, flying or driving. It is not that they are coming for me, because then they are coming for a blind one, since we are all the same. I came here in 1991, and in 1993 we decided to find a place because we were going from one hone to another in different states. After we got this place, someone came to me and handed me a book printed in Sri Lanka called “Serendip.” In that book, he underlined and highlighted in yellow something that is very important. It was a lecture that Mawlana shaykh gave in London in the late 1970's to some Americans who knew him at that time, about seven of them, and he said, “In my vision I see that Allah (swt) is going to make it easy with the barakah of the Prophet (s).” This is how it is written in English, but in Arabic it means. “I am seeing it in the Midwest,” although I never knew this before and it was never mentioned to me, “and it is going to be the qiblah for the Americans.” Someone showed that to me, and someone may recall, perhaps Abdul Wahid, that it is in that book about when Mawlana Shaykh was speaking to some early American mureeds in London.

So there is barakah here, because there was an appearance here that Mawlana Shaykh saw in 1993, and that is the maqaam. He saw that Grandshaykh (q) appeared there and said, "My spiritual power is there. Anyone visiting me will be my follower and I will take him to the presence of the Prophet (s)."

That is how I understood that people are attracted in small numbers, not in quantity, but in quality. Whoever has that chance comes to visit, and for any visitor it is the same as when the Prophet (s) said, “When you go to a masjid, count the distance. If you count the measure of a foot, it is ten hasanaat and it takes away one sayyi`aat.” So count. I remember in Beirut, when we used to go to the mosque there was a direct way and a long way where you went around. Many people like to take the long way, to walk 10,000 feet instead of 1,000 feet, in order to walk more towards the masjid and to take more hasanaat and barakah. Imagine how many footsteps you have walked or driven to reach here, to sit one or two hours to listen to an advice that is coming from Mawlana Shaykh to all of us, to both me and to you! Think of how much hasanaat his people are going to get!

As we mentioned, Muhammad Talmaysani (r) read Dala`il al-Khayrat 100,000 times and he saw the Prophet (s) come in a dream, saying, “If you recite the du`a of Ahmad al-Badawi (r) it is like reading Dala`il al-Khayrat 800,000 times.” For sure, these awliyaullah saw the Prophet (s) and even normal people see him. That is true, and even for someone who doesn't pray correctly but who saw the Prophet (s) in a dream, it is real. Therefore, no one can write the rewards and the tajalli of going to a place where there are appearances, only Allah (swt) can write it.

I heard Grandshaykh (q) say something about the people living at the End of Time. The Prophet (s) mentioned to Sayyidina Umar (r), “If you give sadaqah, a gift, zakaat or whatever, it will be from your hand to my hand and Allah will reward you accordingly.” But in the Last Days, if someone gives sadaqah or many other things, I don’t want to mention it now, it is not from your hand to the Prophet (s), but it is from your hand to Allah's hands directly. We are not saying that Allah (swt) has hands, but think of the metaphorical meaning.

Sitting in a masjid that has the barakah of shuyookh is not like sitting in other places, and it is important to come here to recharge your battery. Coming here is not for me, because for me it is heavy to have so many people coming! The door must be open. Not one single person in the Muslim world, if they follow the Shi`a al-`Arab, the Way of the Arabs and the Prophet (s), will ever close his door to anyone. May Allah keep our doors and your doors open, and the barakah of the Prophet (s) and of Mawlana Shaykh (q) will come to you.

Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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